Gasoline meter dial



Aug. 8, 1939.

A. F. HOWE ET AL GASOLINE METER DIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 17, 1936 8, 1939. A. F. HOWE ET-AL 2,169,048

GASOLINE METER DIAL Filed Oct. 17, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 8', 1939 q UNITED, STATES 2,169,048 casonmn METER DIAL Andrew F. Howe, University. City, and Robert A.

g Bagnell, La Due, Mo.

Application October. 17, 1936, Serial No. 106,150

2 Claims.

from the pump to the carburetor, so that the gasoline passing from the pump to the carburetor will operate the meter and thereby a I dial mechanism mounted on the instrument board of the vehicle, or elsewhere for convenient observation by the driver, in cooperative relationship with the usual odometer to indicate the amount of gasoline-used in traveling a mile, or

any number of miles, and also in cooperative relationship with the usual speedometer; to provide a dial mechanism operated under control of the. usualdevices in the gasoline tank to indicate the amount or number of gallons of gasoline contaiiied in the tank at any desired time of observation, and also operated by the meter to indicate the amount of gasoline consumed'during travel from point to point; to provide a dial mechanism comprising an indicating device making a complete revolution for each gallon of gasoline used from, the tank and an indicating device movable continuously during operation of the motor to indicate the amount of gasoline redevice operated by the usual gasoline gage to indicate the amountof gasoline consumed during travel from onepoint to another.

invention and its adaptability to many uses should be readily apparent from the following description, reference being made-to the annexed drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an elevation of the invention applied to a motor vehicle.

,Fig. 2 isa view showing the a... of the dial mechanism which is assembled in cooperative relationship with the speedometer and the odom-' eter of .a motor vehicle. 1

of the dialmechanism shown in Fig. 2, the various pointers being-turned to a position in which they all appear in Fig. 3. -Fig. 4 is .a sectional viewoi a dial mechanism maining in the tank, and a meter for operating said indicators; )and to provide an indicating.

Various other objects and advantages of the Fig. 3 is a diametrical verticalsectional view assembled apart from the speedometer and odometer and showing the driving connections from the meter to operate the gasoline indicators in the dial mechanism. I

Fig. 5 is-a plan view of the dial mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

Fig.6 is a plan view of the magnetic devices mounted in connection with the gallons-in-tank pointer of'the'indicating mechanism and which cooperates with the magnetic devices shown in Fig. '7 that cooperate directly'with theinstruments in the gasoline tank to .cause operation of the gallons-in-tank pointer through the magnetic devices shown in Fig. 6. I

Fig; Bis an enlarged view of one of the mag netic devices of Fig. 6 or Fig. 7.

, As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the dial mechanism, the total mileage odometer A, the trip mileage odometer B, and the speedometer indicator C are assembled in a single housing I for operation by their respective operating mechanisms. The gearing (not shown) for operating the total mileage odometer A, the trip mileage odometer B and" the speedometer indicator C is mounted in the housing I in a compartment 2 formed between. 25 the rear end wall 3 and the partition A attached to the housing 2, and saidgearin'g is operated by the usual flexible shaft 5 driven by connections operated by the engine. Since this gearing and the connections for operating the same are conventional and familiar, they are not illustrated in thedrawings, because illustration thereof is unnecessary for a completeunderstanding of the present invention. The speedometer indicator C is attached to a rotary member 6 adapted to be rotated by the gearing contained in the compartment 2. The speedometer indicator C operates in cooperative relationship with an annular mileage scaiel to indicate the speed at which the vehicle is traveling, which is to say the number of miles per hour at which the vehicle is traveling, as is wellknown.

The gallon-indicator 8 is attached to a hub 9 (Fig. 2), andfsaid hub 9 is attached to a rotary shaft ill (Figs. 3 and 4). The shaft I0 hasat- 5 tached thereto a pinion ll meshing with a pinion .l2 attached toa conventional meter driven shaft I3, the operating mechanism for said shaft being conventional and well understoodand con.- fined within a meter housing Id. The meter 1 o driven shaft l3 turns the shaft l0 throughf one complete revolution when one gallon of gasoline passes through the meter housing It and the operating mechanism confined therein.

The gallons-in-tank-indicator l5 has a hub attached to a sleeve I! supported for rotation on a tubular shaft I 6. A clutch element I9 is sup- I5 independently of the shaft I8. The shaft I3 turns the shaft I8 one complete revolution for every twenty-five complete revolutions of the shaft l3 through the gearing I3, the shaft D. and the gears I2 and II'.

A spring 26 mounted on the shaft I8 between the hub 9 and the outer end of the clutch element I3 will move the clutch element I9 into clutching engagement with the sleeve I1 and hold it in such position unless compressed. A sleeve M is supported for free and easy rotation about the hub 9 and has a slot 22 through which the indicator 3 extends, and also has its inner end 23 engaging the clutch element I9 so that, when the sleeve 2| is moved outwardly, it will move the clutch element l9 out of engagement with the sleeve H in opposition to the spring 26. Since the sleeve 2| rotates freely and easily, it will be rotated by the indicator 6. The screw device 26 is screwed through the outer end of the sleeve 2i into abutting engagement with the outer end of the shaft I6 and is easily rotative in a direction to move the sleeve 2| outwardly a sumcient distance to disengage the-clutch element 69 from the end of the sleeve H and thereby leave the sleeve ii freely rotative about and with respect to the shaft 86. When the screw 2 l is turned in the opposite direction itwill permit the spring 26 to move the clutch element 59" into clutching engagement with the end of the sleeve i! so that, when the shaft I8 is rotated, the sleeve H and thereby the indicator 55 will be rotated by and at the same speed as the shaft I8.

A conventional device 25 (Fig. l) is mounted in the usual gasoline tank 26 of the motor vehicle and will rotate an electrical contact brush 27 (Fig. 7) as the device 25 moves to different positions in accordance with the variation in the amount of gasoline contained in the tank 26, as is well known. The electrical brush 21 connected with a circuit wire 28 is movable successively into contact with numerous contacts 29 of conventional and known arrangement and mounting and which are supported within a housing 36 on the gasoline tank 26. .A wire 3| leads from each contact 25 to a complementary electro-magnet 32 supported by an insulation element 33 attached to an end wall 3 of the housing I. The

electro-magnets 32 extend through the wall 3 but energized from availab"'e sources of electrical energy. such as the battery of an automobile, when circuits from the source of electrical energy are properly closed. And so, the brush 21, acting in cooperative relationship with the contacts 29, acts as an electrical switch for controlling such circuits irrespective of the sources of electrical energy. Therefore, movement of the brush 2! from and to engagement with the respective contacts 29 controls the energizing of the electromagnets 32. The armature 34 is attached to the sleeve I1 and will be operated through the movement of the conventional device 25, which moves the brush 21 into contact with the respective contacts 29. When the clutch'element I9 is out nular scale 35 and with the annular scale 36, the

scale 35 indicating the amount or number of gallons of gasoline contained and remaining in the tank 26 at any time, and the scale 36 indicating the number of gallons of gasoline that had. been removed from the tank 26 during travel of the motor .vehicle for instance. To reset the indicator I5 for each filling of the tank, it is only necessary to disengage the clutch I9 from the sleeve ll, so that the electrical mechanism controlled by the device 25 will turn the sleeve I1 and :hereby operate the indicator I5 to proper posiion.

It is now clear that, when the clutch element I9 is out of engagement with the sleeve H, the indicator I5 will be operated by mechanism under control of the conventional device 25 to indicate the amount or number of gallons of gasoline contained in the tank 25. Also, the indicator l5 will be operated by the conventional device 25 when the tank 26 is being filled with gasoline, in conformity with the amount of gasoline contained in the tank at any moment during filling of said tank with gasoline; and, when no more gasoline is being delivered into the tank 26, the device 25 will cause the indicator I5 to be retained in a stationary'position with respect to the dials or scales and 36 to indicate, respectively, the amount or number of gallons of gasoline in'the tank and the amount or number of gallons required to fill the tank completely.

In the specific embodiment and relationship of the parts illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, it is assumed that the tank 26 has a capacity of twenty-five gallons, and that twenty-five gallons of gasoline will completely fill said tank or will fill the tank to the desired height. The ratio of thc gearingoperated by the meter mechanism contained in the housing I4 is such that the indicator 8 will make one complete revolution in a clockwise direction for each gallon of gasoline passing throughthe meter; and that the gallonsin-tank indicator I5 will move only one numerical step or space in a. clockwise direction for each gellon of gasoline passing from the tank 26 through the meter mechanism. Thus the 'gallons-in-tank indicator I5 passes along the scale 35 in ,a descending relationship from "0" through 24, 23?,

toward 0, indicating the number of gallons of gasoline remaining in the tank, while the scale 36 indicates the number of gallons of gasoline that have been removed from the tank and have passed through. the meter.

The usual and conventional pump 3'! draws gasoline from the tank 26 through the usual tube 36 and, in present-day practice, discharges the gasoline into the carburetor 39. Our invention further departs from present practice by providing a tube 40 from the pump 31 to the meter housing I4 and a tube H from the meter housing to the carburetor 33. Thus the pump 31 can deliver gasoline to the car buretor only through the meter mechanism within the meter housing I4, so that the indicator mechanism comprising the indicators 8 and I will be operated in the manner heretofore described by gasoline passing through the meter mechanism when the'clutch element I9 is in engagement with the sleeve I1.

To the extent indicated by like reference numerals-applied to similar parts, the device shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is the same as the device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. In fact, the only differences between the two devices are that, in the device illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the total mileage odometer A, the trip mileage odometer B, the speedometer indicator C and its connections, the

flexible shaft 5 for operating the speedometer and odometer gearing, and the annular mileage scale 1, are omitted.

In the simplified mechanism shown in Fig. 9,

the conventional gage operating device 42 is contained in a gasoline tank (not shown in Fig. 9), and is the analogue of the conventional device 25 shown in Fig. 1. Through appropriate and known connections 43, the device 42 will operate a rheostat brush or contact member 44 along and from coil to coil of a rheostat 45 electrically connected with the rocking member 46 of an electro-magnet 41., The rocking member 46 operates the usual gasoline gage pointer through an arc of a circle in the gasoline gage mounted on the instrument board of the automobile, in the usual manner, according to the rise and fall of gasoline within the tank, the 'electro-magnet being energized conventionally.

It-should now be apparent that this invention attains all of its intended functions with a high degree of accuracy and precision, and is capable of wide variation within equivalent limits without departure from the nature and principle thereof.

We claim: .1. In a motor vehicle having a tank for containing gasoline, a carburetor for receiving gasoline from said tank, and a pump for causing flow of gasoline from said tank to said carburetor; meter mechanism through which said gasoline is forced by said pump to said carburetor, a shaft, gearing operated'by the gasoline passing through said meter for rotating said shaft, two annular dials concentric with each other and with said shaft, anindicator attached to said shaft and cooperating with one of said dials to indicate the amount of gasoline required to fill the tank, a shaft concentric with said first named shaft and with said dials, an indicator attached to said second shaft and cooperating with said other dial to indicate the amount of gasoline contained in the tank, and mechanism for rotating said second shaft by said gearing.

2. In a motor vehicle having a tank' for containing gasoline, a carburetor for receiving gaso- 1 line from said tank, and a pump for causing flow of gasoline from said tank to-said carburetor; meter mechanism through which said gasoline is forced by said pump to said carburetor, two concentric dials, a pair of shafts concentric with each other and with said dials, an indicator at- J tached to each of said shafts and cooperating with said respective dials for indicating the amount of gasoline contained in. said tank and the amount of gasoline that had been withdrawn from said tank respectively, gearing operated differentially by the gasoline passing through said meter for operating said indicators differentially with respect to said dials, and devices for releasing one of said indicators from its said shaft while the other indicator remains attached to its shaft and setting both of said indicators to a starting position. 

